Meeting Minutes August 2016

House: Jenn- We have had many people request a fall session of house, We can do this on a smaller scale- no trainers, 6 weeks, Sept 12-Oct 22 U12 and under unless we get enough older kids sign up to make 2 teams. Will get registration up and running on the website- approved

Travel: Jim- We need to restructure our fees in order to account for the training teams receive year round. By raising our outdoor fee to $300/ player and requiring this payment be due by Feb 1, it will alleviate that spring time scramble of getting rosters and passes done in time. We propose that this fee be either paid in full by November 1st , or you can pay ½ November 1st and ½ Feb. 1st. We would like each team manager to collect these fees and pay with one check, or the parents can pay online and give their manager a copy of the receipt to turn in. All players must do the online registration. These fees are going to be non-refundable.

We would also like to start restructuring the tryout process. Have all teams in one place at the same time. Have an impartial panel score the kids and place them on appropriate teams. This will need further discussion before next year.

Kickin it at the River Tournament- splitting it with Niagara PAL, this is a small scale tournament just to learn the process. Will need many volunteers.

House Report: This season we have had a few bumps in the road, some unhappy parents, lack of coaching and training not up to par.

House coach from U18 would like all travel players to play house, not sure this is what house soccer is intended for.

Travel Report: Coaches can request a new ref 2-3 weeks prior to a game if they are anticipating it to be a rough one. Also, file a game report if you have a bad referee.

Please get Jim your tryout times so we can get it up on the website.

Tournament: September 25th. Will need helpers and for all younger coaches to sign their teams up. Good way to see what you have for the season.

We continue to look for sponsorship if anyone knows of any leads , please pass it on.

Adjournment 9:10

Meeting Minutes - March 2015

Meeting March 12, 2015

Board Members Present: Jim Blankenship, Jim Coyle, Matt Waddington

Meeting Called to Order 8:47

Treasurers Report : Balance 92056.30

Minutes from last month- Accepted as Written

House Report: Registration is open, already have 78 kids registered. Let’s hope spring is coming. We are always looking for house coaches. Let us know if anyone is interested.

Matt: Trainers for house last year was always a problem, this year we have decided to partner with GPS. Although it’s a few more dollars than we paid last year, we are guaranteed to have 3 trainers every night. They are also giving all coaches (travel and house) a plan book. The board felt this was a good partnership. Empire wanted full access to all of our players, where as GPS only has access to 2 per age group. They must go to the board and coach before talking to any players. They will also offer a juniors program for our youngest players. House coaches must use the trainers that are provided. It is now mandatory. We will have a coaching symposium to meet the GPS trainers- all house coaches must attend.

House will only be offered on Mon Wed or Fri, Juniors program on Tue and Thur

Travel : Mr Coyle- Get your rosters in as soon as possible. Also, to all coaches, please get certified . The club will pay for it and we can all benefit from learning more. In 2016, if you play in the Thruway league, you must have your D license.

Jim Blankenship: No passes will be given out until your full team is registered and paid for. Please collect your payments as a team and then turn in 1 check for full amount. If parents pay via paypal, please have them give you the receipt. Just makes it easier for all to do it this way. Must be all done by April 17th.

Field Setup: Pat Deering- Spruce will be for House and Gratwick Park for Travel. At Gratwick we will be moving to the far end where lacrosse was. Set up will be April 25 and 26. Please sign up and I will contact you. We have a lot to do as our first game is May 1st.

Mr Deering applied for a grant from NYSW and was awarded $600 to put towards player retention. We are putting it towards a booth at the TNT expo.

Matt: Give me your practice schedules so that I can get your teams in for training. I am here for you, please utilize me.

House Report: Mike Goodman: House Registration will open in Dec/Jan, the dates for summer house will be May 18th - August 1st. August 17th - October 17th. There will be a mandatory coaching clinic for all coaches.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Nothing new to report

Matt Waddington- We currently have 16 girls and 22 boys enrolled in the Soccer Academy at Errick Rd school. First day went well, hope to have more to report next month.

RIP Mr Sullivan. We would like to observe a moment of silence in his honor. Mr Sullivan was very influential in youth sports in our area. We were lucky to have him be involved in our organization. He will be missed greatly. His family has asked if we would give a donation in his honor to the Gratwick Garden Fund. The board votes to donate $500.

House Report: Mike Goodman: Our summer session ended well, we had really nice weather for the last game. The picnic was held after the last game and had a great turn out. We even had to go buy more food. Next year all house will be at Spruce.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Nothing new to report

Jim Blankenship: went to the JSL meeting, Stallions (Empire House) has NOT been accepted into the league. Sportsplex is still closed until the needed repairs are made in order to pass inspection. Look at other options for your indoor sessions - epic and Sahlens. Fees for next summer will have to go up, as it stands we are on the low end compared to other clubs. The board will be meeting to discuss. Pembroke has teams playing this summer so be prepared to possibly travel to games out there.

Uniforms: We will be going with Inaria as our supplier. Will hold the style for 3 years. Would like every team to change over by summer. $156 will include home and away kits, warm up and bag. Will have a team sheet for you to fill out for your order.. They are sending us sizes to try on.

Matt Waddington- We will be holding an academy for ages 8-12 at Errick Rd. Fridays from 5:15-8pm. 2 sessions, 1 8 week session for $80, 1 10 week session for $100 - Sign up for both sessions for $150. Will focus on touches on the ball, speed, agility, fitness small sided games etc.

New Business

Rosters- please give to Jim Blankenship as soon as possible.

Matt Waddington: Would like to consider adding a program that allows the older players to mentor our younger ones. Go to their practices and games just to give them someone to look up to. Could even transition to them helping out at house next summer.

House Report: Jim Blankenship: doing ok, around 455 signed up for next session. Uniform pickup Sunday at his house 6pm. We have to have 4 Sunday games due to scheduling conflicts.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Not much to report: looks like teams are doing well. Lets end the season on a high note.

Matt Waddington- is offering camps this summer , one for house and one for travel . House is going on this week and the kids have really enjoyed it. price will be $50.00 for Northtowns players. $75.00 for non Northtowns players. Will be held at Gratwick Park from 9-12.

New Business

We always need volunteers to help with coaching house and helping with fields. This is a good activity for some of our older players to help with and to earn their community service hours.

Fields; Pat Deering: We have been awarded another grant. The East Hill foundation has awarded us $3500 to put towards more anti tip nets for Gratwick Park. We thank them for honoring us.

We are sharing space with NTAA lacrosse at the river. Let us know of any problems.

Matt Waddington: very disappointed with the turn out for the coaches clinics he held. Only 1 house and 2 travel coaches showed up. We can all learn from each other to help the club grow and to help our players become better soccer players. There will be another one offered in the fall and everyone is expected to be there.

Let Matt know your indoor schedule when you have it so he can start planning.

Tryouts: Let Jim know when you are having them so we can get it up on the website. Matt can also help with tryouts, just let him know.

House Report: Mike Goodman is not present, Jim Blankenship reports the following: The new spring outdoor house session has started, Just under 300 registered. Everything is going good so far, There will be trainers at the house practices to work with the teams , especially focusing on the younger ones.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Good news to report from the Akron tournament. The boys U14 Revolution came in 2nd place. Great job boys! Coaches, remember to watch your language and that of the older kids on teams while on the fields. Good luck to all teams on their outdoor seasons.

Jim Blankenship- Please make sure all teams pick up their garbage (house and travel) we have already gotten complaints from Ohio School about garbage left on the fields. Travel teams, please do not practice at the river.

Matt Waddington- will be offering camps this summer , one for house ( July 14-18) and one for travel ( July 21-25), price will be $50.00 for Northtowns players. $75.00 for non Northtowns players. Will be held at Gratwick Park from 9-12.

There will be 4-6 different trainers to work with house. Will be available to work with coaches in the U6-8-10 age groups. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Matt will also train each travel team 1 time every other week at Ohio School. Schedule will be posted online once completed.

New Business

Field Conditions: We are doing the best we can, it has been extremely rainy this spring. Nets will be anchored this week. There is a grate by the sideline on field at Gratwick Hose, we will see what can be done to cover this during games.

Miscommunication on field numbers at the river. New information has been sent into the league, should be fixed by the weekend.

Club Logo: New logo has been given to Impressive Imprints.

George Pettapiece is looking for girls for his women’s team. Would prefer girls over 18 but would use younger girls if interested. They play on Monday nights and home games will be at Gratwick Park.

Meeting adjourned : 9:00pm

Ann Deering- Club Secretary

Meeting Minutes - April 2014

Northtowns Soccer Club

Meeting April 10, 2014

Board Members Present: Jim Blankenship, Michael Goodman, Mr Coyle

Meeting Called to Order 8:35pm

Treasurers Report : Balance $157,277.02-Accepted as Written

Minutes from last month- Accepted as Written

Thank you to everyone for coming. It’s nice to see so many people present including House parents/coaches.

House Report: Mike Goodman- Over 250 signed up so far for our new spring outdoor session. Great showing for our first time running at this time of the year. All Referee assignments will be done through arbiter. Uniforms are ordered , should be in next week. April 26th is the tentative date for uniform pickup here at Gratwick Hose. We do have 2 dates in the spring schedule that have been switched to Sunday due to scheduling conflicts. Ready for a great season.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Passes are available if you paid your team bond and have fulfilled your field setup requirement. A reminder to all coaches and parents, keep your cool on the sidelines. Be there to support the children keep your comments /yelling to yourselves. Be patient with the new/younger refs, they are all still learning. Mistakes do happen, but at the end of the day, it is just a game. All coaches need to sign the coaches pledge online.

Jim Blankenship- Reschedules need to be turned in at least 8 days in advance, If you know you will have a conflict, reschedule early.

Matt Waddington- will be offering camps this summer , one for house ( July 14-18) and one for travel ( July 21-25), price will be $50.00 for Northtowns players. $75.00 for non Northtowns players. Will be held at Gratwick Park from 9-12.

There will be 4-6 different trainers to work with house. Will be available to work with coaches in the U6-8-10 age groups. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Matt will also train each travel team 1 time every other week at Ohio School. Schedule will be posted online once completed.

New Business

House practice will be held at Spruce this year, all travel games will be at either Gratwick Hose or Gratwick Park.

Team Bond- the board has decided that each team will pay a team bond. If you come to set up you will get it back. $250.00 check/team. Checks are to be made out to Northtowns Soccer. We will hold on to the checks, if you fulfill your obligations, you will get your check back at the end of the year.

Requirements to be fulfilled

Each team must send 2 representatives to help with field set up and tear down.

Each travel team is required to have someone from their coaching staff attend at least 5 meetings per year.

Each travel team is required to have someone from their coaching staff attend at least one of Matt’s coaching clinics held each year.

Club Logo: We have picked a new logo, We are working on getting merchandise with the new logo.

George Pettapiece is looking for girls for his women’s team. Would prefer girls over 18 but would use younger girls if interested. They play on Monday nights and home games will be at Gratwick Park.

Scrip Cards- Kim Goodman : info is on website if you are interested. It’s a great way to pay for your child’s soccer.

Field Set up - Pat Deering

Setup schedule

Each Team must supply 2 people to setup fields, does not have to be the coach. They must sign in to get credit. Come with proper attire as fields will be wet. Expect to spend the needed time to finish the location in the area of 4-6 hours. If you are unable to make this date do to a prior commitment contact me as there will be other work that week for net assembly and delivery. It is a requirement for all teams to participate in field setup. Bring any 100ft tape measures you have.

Saturday April 12 rain day April 19

Ohio School 8:30 2 practice fields

Dave Guido U 12 Reign

Jeremy Brauer U12 Force

Joe Sowinski U10 Fusion

Spruce school 9:00 6 practice fields

Mike Goodman U 9 Bullets

Bob Walter U 13 Dynamo

Glenn Dolata U 14 Dynamo

Jane Wilson U17 Twisters

Phil Bova U 17 Thunder

Gratwick Hose 4 Game fields 9:00

John Barone U 12 Destroyers

Jim Blankenship U10 Revolution

Brian Miranto U 10 Storm

Sunday April 13 9:00 rain day April 20

Gratwwick Park 4 Game fields

Lou Dal Porto U 17 Sonics

Jim Blankenship U 16 Lady inferno

Glenn Dolata U18 Arsenal

Bridgette Bova U 18 Nitros

George Pettapiece Womens Panthers

Travel Teams; make sure everyone is signed up on Teamsnap. Get your teams registered for summer, registration must go through the league. Register on teamsnap and pay via paypal. This year the fee is $140 for travel ($156 including the player pass)

NORTHTOWNS SOCCER CLUB – February 13, 2014 meeting minutes

Treasurers Report : Balance $144,525.06-Accepted as Written
Minutes from last month- Accepted as Written

House Report: Mike Goodman- Registration is now open for both sessions. 1st session begins April 27th, 2nd session begins July 15th. Flyers to area schools have been distributed. Advertising was placed in the Metro Source newspapers for the NT, NW, Niagara Falls areas as well as an ad in their Healthy WNY magazine which is distributed all over WNY.

Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Price will be $140.00, up from $120.00. Jim Blankenship has submitted what level everyone wants to play, age brackets are still being figured out. Older groups may be grouped together.

New Business:

Matt Waddington- will be offering camps this summer , one for house ( July 14-18) and one for travel ( July 21-25), price will be $50.00 for Northtowns players. $75.00 for non Northtowns players. Will be held at Gratwick Park from 9-12.

Coaches, please start figuring out your summer practice times and get that info to Matt so he can start working on a schedule for when he is going to train your team.

House practice will be held at Spruce this year, all travel games will be at either Gratwick Hose or Gratwick Park.

Team Bond- the board has decided that each team will pay a team bond. If you come to set up you will get it back. $250.00 check/team. Checks are to be made out to Northtowns Soccer. We will hold on to the checks, if you fulfill your obligations, you will get your check back at the end of the year.

Requirements to be fulfilled
Each team must send 2 representatives to help with field set up and tear down.
Each travel team is required to have someone from their coaching staff attend at least 5 meetings per year.
Each travel team is required to have someone from their coaching staff attend at least one of Matt’s coaching clinics held each year.

Club Logo: Jeremy Brauer has brought us 3 design ideas for a new logo. We will pass it around, everyone vote for the one you like best. Design 1 was chosen as our new logo. Motion made and accepted to change our logo to the new design.

George Pettapiece is looking for girls for his women’s team. Would prefer girls over 18 but would use younger girls if interested. They play on Monday nights and home games will be at Gratwick Park.

Scrip Cards- Kim Goodman is in charge of these now. We will list an article about them in the new newsletter we are putting together. Maybe offer some of the old ones that are sitting around at a small discount.

Uniforms and Warmups- we are in the process of looking for a new vendor for our uniforms and warmups with the new logo on them. More info to come.

Field Set up - Pat Deering has come up with the following schedule.
Setup schedule
Each Team must supply 2 people to setup fields, does not have to be the coach. They must sign in to get credit. Come with proper attire as fields will be wet. Expect to spend the needed time to finish the location in the area of 4-6 hours. If you are unable to make this date do to a prior commitment contact me as there will be other work that week for net assembly and delivery. It is a requirement for all teams to participate in field setup. Bring any 100ft tape measures you have.

NORTHTOWNS SOCCER CLUB – January 9, 2014 meeting minutes

House Report: Mike Goodman- Registration is now open for both sessions. 1st session begins April 27th, 2nd session begins July 15th. We have decided to do away with the raffle tickets. It was more headaches than it was worth. Flyers to the schools are going out in next few weeks and we are putting ads in the metro source newspapers.

Travel Report: Jim Blankenship- (Mr Coyle was not present) price will be $140.00, up from $120.00. Passes will be the actual cost (around $16.00) . Tell Jim what level you want to be in for summer, must have them by the end of February. They are still figuring out age brackets. Some of the older groups might be grouped together.

New Business:

Matt will be offering camps this summer, one for house and one for travel, price will be $50.00 for Northtowns players. Will be held at Gratwick Park from 9-12.

House practice will be held at Spruce this year, all travel games will be at either Gratwick Hose or Gratwick Park.

Field Setup: the board has decided that each team will pay a team bond. If you come to set up you will get it back. $250.00 per team. There is very little support going on and this needs to change. Everyone must start helping, if you don’t help and attend meetings, you will not be getting your passes.---We will discuss this more at the next meeting and the board will have more info and parameters on this.

Club Logo: we would like to update the logo to a newer fresher look, symbolize that we want the club to move and grow in a new direction. Will still be the Red black and white colors, just a newer and fresher look.

Meeting adjourned : 9:07

Meeting Minutes December 2013

Meeting Date: 2013-12-19

NORTHTOWNS SOCCER CLUB – December 19, 2013 meeting minutes

Treasurers Report : Balance $150,739.11-Accepted as Written
Minutes from last meeting: accepted as written
House Report: Mike Goodman- Registration for the new outdoor sessions will be beginning shortly, check the website and team snap for more information.
Travel Report: Jim Coyle- Went to the WNYJSL meeting, some changes are coming, more information to come.
New Business: Training with Matt: he has availability, let him know your schedule and he will work with you.
Merry Christmas
Meeting adjourned : 8:33

Meeting Minutes November 2013

Meeting Date: 2013-11-14

NORTHTOWNS SOCCER CLUB – November 14th, 2013 meeting minutes

Meeting November 14, 2013
Board Members Present: Jim Blankenship, Michael Goodman
Meeting Called to Order 8:40pm

Treasurers Report : Balance $156,354.63-Accepted as Written

House Report: Mike Goodman- The new fall session of house ended well, it was a blustery day but the kids gave it their all and had fun. We are working on next years schedule, will have 2 full outdoor sessions. Note to all players, coaches and refs --in house, No Slide Tackling is permitted.

Travel Report: Jim Blankenship- Not many facilities are offering games for the older teams right now, just Sahlens. We want the kids to play as much as possible, check out Sahlens, they have a lot to offer and a great facility. Get your rosters over to Jim, he needs to get them before they go up on your page. All players need to be current on their money owed before they can play.

New Business:
*Jim and Pat Deering attended the NYSW annual meeting: They offer great coaching clinics , all coaches should check them out. They are worth attending. For some reason, the old board was charging too much for the travel player passes---the price will be $15, as they should be.
*Thruway league has changed U-12 to 8v8--this is down from 9v9, if you play in this division , make note of that.
*Matt Waddington is available for training as always, just contact him with your availability.
*Team Snap is switching over the first of the year, get your teams over now before it all switches over.
*The club is going to purchase a laminator for all to use, it will be at each meeting for you to use for your player passes.
*Pat Deering- We already have our outdoor fields locked down, we would like to advertise our house program for the summer. All fields that we are permitted to work on, will be fixed. We are looking at holding a tournament in 2015--more to come on this, will need participation from everyone. It’s time for all the teams to come together as one for the benefit of the club.
Elections: All were voted on and passed unanimously
President: Jim Blankenship
Vice President of Travel: Jim Coyle
Secretary: Ann Deering
Mike Goodman and Bill Bainbridge remain in

Meeting Minutes October 2013

Meeting Date: 2013-10-10

NORTHTOWNS SOCCER CLUB – October 10th, 2013 meeting minutes

House Report- Michael Goodman: Everything with new outdoor fall session is going well. A few reschedules had to take place due to weather, but no major problems with that. We are looking at revamping our outdoor house schedule for next year. Adding more time in. More on this to come as we figure things out.

Field Report- Pat Deering: We are going to move the U6 fields for this weekend (and possibly rest of this session) over to Gratwick Park- those fields have remained under water after the downpours we had last weekend. Next year we are adding 3 more fields to Gratwick Park. All approvals have already been obtained from the City.
We will also still utilize Spruce, Ohio and Gratwick Hose.

Travel Report- Jim Blankenship: Winter season is coming up,all travel coaches need to turn in rosters even if you are not planning on playing in the first session. Everything is switching over to TeamSnap. Please get your webpages up and running. If you have any problems, let Jim know. We have lost a few travel teams due to various reasons- dual carding being a major one.

New Business:
League Meeting last week. Jim Blankenship and Pat Deering attended. There has been a new club in Medina added, you may have games out that way.

Would like to get someone or a committee of people together to work on marketing the club. Get more notices put in local newspapers about all of the great things Northtowns Soccer has to offer. If anyone is interested, let Jim know.

CPR / AED Training: free for club members. Next session is October 20, 2013 at Lockport Flips. A great thing for all coaches to have, contact Ann Deering if interested at ADeering123@aol.com

Jen DeFrank has stepped down as Script Coordinator, Kim Goodman has decided to take over that position. Script cards are a great way to earn extra money for your soccer account.